Monthly Archives: May 2012

Last week I was fortunate to see the group the Polyphonic Spree at Webster Hall in New York City. I had seen them several years ago opening up for David Bowie and since then I’ve seen them every time they’ve come to New York. They are one of my favorite live bands and their concerts are transformative and full of positive energy. I had wanted to get the newest iPhone before the concert so I could try out the camera with the flash. We arrived early and we were pretty close to the stage. As you can see from the pictures the group is wearing choir gowns with hearts sewn on them.

One of the highlights of the show for me was their rendition of the Who’s Tommy medley. At the last concert tour several years ago they did a show of all covers. One of my favorite covers at that show was Neil Diamond’s “Sweet Caroline.”. Another highlight was a song called “2000 Paces” where they sing: you got to be good, you got to be strong, you gotta be 2000 places at once”. You can hear a version of it on a live recording on NPR Music.

The band was recording a future live album during the concert which I’m really excited about. You can see more photos from the show on the Brooklyn Vegan website.

I created a portrait of Lt. Uhura from Star Trek using Inkpad and PicGrunger. I worked a little differently this time because I imported the PicGrunger version into Inkpad and used version that with the masking tool to add texture to the shapes. I usually use Sketchbook Pro to combine the different versions and then erase what I don’t want. The one biggest challenge is making sure the sizes of the Inkpad and PicGrunger version are exactly the same so everything lines of properly.

A couple of weeks ago I went to a Dr. Sketchy NYC session at the Bowery Poetry Club featuring Raquel Reed. Raquel Reed is a burlesque performer who is also a musician and pinup model. She wore fabulous vintage outfits for her session. The colors were amazing, especially on the turquoise blue fur that she wore. I had drawn her last year in a special Valentines Day session and have been following her on Twitter and Facebook since then. In addition to her modeling she is also a make up artist for MAC cosmetics. I recently found out that she works at the MAC counter near where I live and I’m hoping to book her for a make up lesson to get a “vamp” look.

I spent some time relaxing (and playing) at a local park over the weekend. There was a field of wild daisies so we stopped to take some pictures. This was taken with Hipstamatic and processed with Pixlromatic+. I just added that app on Friday and I’m looking forward to experimenting with it.

This is a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II created with the iPad app Inkpad. I created this for a show being held at West Ox Arts Gallery in United Kingdom. The Gallery has asked artists to submit portraits of the Queen for the celebration of her diamond Jubilee. I chose to do a portrait of the Queen when she was younger.

Hello and Welcome!

Through the Lava Lamp features the artwork of Rita Flores created using cutting edge technology such as the iPad and iPhone, as well as more traditional work such as drawing and acrylic painting. Thank you for stopping by and please feel free to add comments or ask questions about my techniques.